aleah’s blog
Just another WordPress.com weblogArchive for April, 2008
Civil Religion
Before I get into my post on Civil Religion, I would just like to point out that this is (I think my 5th repost) of this blog entry! The reason is because after I posted it, I realized all of my dates on my blogs are wrong! Turns out, the time is about a day ahead of the time it really is. So when I read my entry over, I looked at the date and noticed that it said April 29th at like 2 in the morning. That’s wrong and even when I fix the time on my post, I cannot fix the a.m. p.m. section, so it still looks like the wrong time/day! So what I wanted to point out is that right now, at this very moment as I’m typing, it’s 10:54 and it is Apr. 28th (Monday night). All assignments are due by tomorrow and I have successfully completed all of them, so I wanted to make sure I pointed that out so it didn’t look like I was passed the deadline, which I’m not. I wish I’d have noticed it before. Anyway, I fixed the time but it still says a.m. but it’s really p.m. right now and I can’t fix it, I am so sorry!
From our talk on Civil Religion, I actually came to a lot of new realizations. I realized mostly that all religion has basically the same function, to give people faith, to give people hope, to give people orderly lives, etc. I realized that every religion has their own rituals, beliefs, texts/manuscripts, and rules. For example, the Native Americans gather around a fire to do the eagle dance to praise their Gods, whereas Christians gather in church and sometimes have a choir. Another example would be the Ten Commandments in the Bible and the list of set rules that the Hindu’s go by (I forget the name…sorry!). Mostly every religion has belief in some kind of higher power, like God. This is not true for all religions, though. There are Atheists, who don’t accept God at all and Agnostics who really haven’t come to a decision yet and are content with it. Some religions believe in more than one God, like the Hindus and the Greeks. Religions like Christianity praise God and the Buddhists praise Buddha.
I took a humanities class in high school that helped me explore other religions, kind of like this activity. But with all the information I learned, I never took the time to really think about how interesting it is that although every religion has its differences, they all serve the same purpose. The purpose of religion is to give an individual some sort of closure and I think that closure can be found whether they choose to believe in a higher power or not. I was raised Christian, but my parents never really stressed religion on me at all. I think I have been to Church about four times in my entire life and I only went with my aunt’s and uncle’s. This could have something to do with my personal feelings on religion, but I’m torn in between. I’m confident in what I say, yet on the inside, I don’t think it makes much sense. It feels right though. My person belief is that there is no “God” sitting in the sky on a fancy chair, calling all of the shots. No way, I think God exists, but I think that we are God. Every individual, every animal, every plant, every organism in our universe is God. I say this because only WE have the power to change the world. God doesn’t wave his hand over the globe and make a tornado or natural disaster occur. Pollutants, global warming, etc. make those sorts of things happen and they are caused by man. Purposely? probably not, but it is definitely a fact. Another example: when people pray at night; when I pray at night, I pray for my family, my friends, people I don’t know, people who have hurt me, you could say I have a routine. I always make sure, though, that I ask God for strength, but I know full well that I am the only one who can find strength and take on each day.
My idea sounds silly, but I think it’s true. I think the power of God and the ability to make a difference can be found inside of all of us. I think the problem might be that people aren’t comfortable searching that deep within themselves. I believe that heaven is not a place you go to and exist in after death, I think that perhaps it is a never-ending euphoria of every good moment in your life. It’s some kind of combination between every happy, life changing moment, every tear, every accomplishment, etc. I think it’s a state of mind that stays stagnated in joy for the rest of eternity. And as for Hell, the exact opposite: a never-ending state of mind with every guilty feeling, hurtful action and off-beat emotion haunts your mind for the rest of eternity.
I think that the Bible is also really interesting. I meet a lot of people who believe the events that happened in the Bible, and also, many who believe what I believe, which is that every story in the Bible is just like a metaphor. It’s just a way of making understanding the acceptable ways of living life easier. If you’ve got a story or some kind of example or metaphor to assist you in understanding a new concept, it can be very helpful! I do believe that Jesus existed, I mean, it IS a fact, I have no doubt about that. But as far as Adam and Eve and the burning bush, I think those are the beautiful metaphorical stories that were told to express and spread awareness of what a civilization should be like.
I enjoyed the conversation on Civil Religion. Like I said, I learned/realized a lot of what I think almost seems obvious, I just had to put it in the right perspective! I remember, I left class that day feeling really good!
The Constitution
After reading up on the Constitution, I relearned a lot of what I learned in government class. For example, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence and such. It was pretty interesting. Since we got to choose, I decided to just analyze the Constitution’s impact on our life today, how it impacted the colonies, some of the signers and comparing it to other constitutions. The Constitution is the legal document that pretty much holds all of society together. It is a long list of rules and/or laws to abide by, focusing on everyone’s well being. The Constitution gives us our feedoms and things like the separation of church and state which is in effect today. It started in September, 1786, when commissioners from five states met in the Annapolis Convention to discuss adjustments to the Articles of Confederation that would improve commerce and life. They invited state representatives to meet in Philidelphia to discuss improvements to the federal government. After discussing it, the Congress of the Confederation and endorsed a plan to revise the Articles of Confederation on Feb. 21st, 1787. Twelve states, with the exception of Rhode Island, accepted the invitation and sent delegates to meet in May 1787. The Convention’s purpose was to propose amendments to the Articles, but the Convention decided to propose a rewritten Constitution. The Philidelphia Convention voted to keep the debates secret, so that the delegates could speak freely. They also decided to draft a new fundamental government design, which eventually stipulated that only nine of the thirteen states would have to ratify for the new government to go into effect. Our knowledge of the drafting and construction of the United States Constitution comes primarily from the diaries left by James Madison, who kept a complete record of the proceedings at the Constitutional Convention. It was a positive impact on the colonies, in my opinion because it restored order within communities. People had expectations to meet and they worked very hard to meet them, resulting in the work force today- a strong, wide range network of people who conform to the norms of society and living within a society to survive, without forcing them to believe a certain religion, or way of life and always granting someone their freedoms. Speech, Assembly, Religion, Press, and the right to bear arms.
Some of the signers included John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock, Rufus King, Dan Carroll, John Blair, and Charles Pinckney. I think that yes, in a way, these gentlemen (along with the many other who signed the document) can be considered heroes in a way. They provided America with a foundation and guidelines to follow. They gave us rules and ways to become successful and it’s my opinion that it has blossomed into a really beautiful thing today. Without the Constitution, I don’t know where the U.S. would be on any terms of political grounds and I definitely couldn’t imagine what society might be like. We should praise the Constitution for giving us our freedoms and our protection.
Purtian poem (reposted)
I deleted the original post of my poem because I noticed a typo that I wanted to fix. I hate presenting things with errors. So here is my puritan poem, typo completely fixed. I had fun with this assignment. I couldn’t really get out my ideas the right way in the puritan language but it just wasn’t working out for me. I attempted several poems in that kind of language and so I decided to try it in our everyday northern U.S. vernacular, haha, I hope that is acceptable! But I honestly do like what I wrote. It’s of course no masterpiece, but for my first attempted poem of this kind, I am thankful for how it came out. I am a bit of a Christian myself, or I’d like to think so, although I am still unsure and I do not follow the bible. I just believe in a higher power who gives us strength. So when I saw that many poems were about the Lord and how thankful they were, I decided to kind of go with that same theme, while applying how I really felt about the Lord that I appreciate, myself. So my poem is very religious, but I’m impressed with it. I didn’t think it would be this long but once I started talking about the Lord, I just kept going and rhyming. The words kept flowing!
I wasn’t sure if it needed a title or anything, so to be safe, I’ve entitled it:
“The Lord will take you”
I thank the lord for the bed that I lay in every night
I thank him greatly for the bread my children eat with such delight
Soup is cooking over the fire
And as I continue to stir, I am praying to my Lord who is higher
Above me, he sees and he loves me
He grants my children’s wishes
He gives me water to clean my dishes
The Lord has blessed me with love and with care
Which runs so deep. He blessed my fingertips
And my aching feet.
He gives me a heart of gold and soul, full of glee
He says, “Live by my words
And I will take you with me”
He keeps our family at peace
He has blessed us with clean, warm sheets
I know he looks down upon me
And sees that I am not perfect, but I am kind
He grants me with great strength to work
And an analytical mind
Without my Lord, I might as well be blind
And even if I were, I wouldn’t mind
Because the Lord knows best
I am blessed with a vest of great dignity and honor
For a woman that has sinned, I will not look down upon her
I will help her from the ground, I will tell her to stand high
And to look into the sky and tell the Lord just how she feels
With the spinning of the carriage wheels, she will be blessed
Like all of the rest and he will give her a vest to protect her
Like mine, he will assure her not to indulge too much in wine
Like she did before
I will open my door and take her in, as if she were my own
And when she is no longer ill, I will tell her to go
To take the Lord with her, and to remember and know
That he blessed you with love and care, which runs so deep
He will bless your fingertips and your aching feet.
He will give you a heart of gold and soul, full of glee
Then he’ll tell you, “Live by my words
And I will take you with me”
Ancient Buddhist statues
For Thursday, we attended a talk on ancient Buddhist statues. I believe the speakers name was James Robsin, but I am unsure to be safe, I’ll call him Mr. Robsin. He spoke about a lot of Chinese and some Japanese traditions and rituals, a lot of which were linked to these little figures. Most of them resembled an early Buddha, others were just numerous different onces that were made. Mr. Robsin said that some citizens that look at the statues claim that they are relatives, so some of the statues were very detailed. One picture that he showed even had hair on the face of the statue and very detailed features. I thought this was a pretty neat exhibit. Mr. Robsin says that these statues are hard to find but sometimes, they’re right in front of people and the people have no idea the meaning that it carries or its value! Most of these little figures are carved out of wood and can be found in museums or the homes of individuals that collect them, purposefully or unintentionally. Mr. Robsin did a very nice job on his presentation. He was detailed and clear and very articulate and he answered everyone’s questions and even his own with full, elaborate answers, which I found to be a great characteristic about him. I enjoyed this exhibit very much.
